Economy
Catsfernian Economy The Catsfernian Economy is a thriving powerhouse, worth over a quadrillion Septims annually. It is primarily supported by private business and industry, however the government does have some state run industries to craft adequate products in order to keep taxes low. The tourism industry is the leading business in Catsfern followed by information technology, arms manufacturing, book publishing, and various forms of agriculture. Catsfern also imports and exports very little preferring instead to be as economically self sufficient as possible. Due to this and Catsfern's unique and sexual culture a large amount of niche industries have emerged as well. Another large part of the Catsfernian economy is drug trading. In Catsfern, drug production and sale of drugs is fully legitimized, regulated, and taxed. Primary Industries. Tourism Catsfern is a hotspot for tourism, so much so is that catering and doing business with tourists is the leading industry in Catsfern. The Catsfernian government it's self actually produces a good bit of souvenirs for tourists to sell at a profit. These Items are often overpriced, but thats typically what one would expect for a souvenir item. Information Technology The production and support of electronic devices has become a leading industry in Catsfern due to a mix of high intelligence leading to swift advancements, high demand from A.I. citizens, and government support. Arms Manufacturing The production of weaponry for both military and civilian use has also become quite important for the economy. The production is lead by three companies: Catsfernian Armament Solutions, National Guns Incorporated, and The Catsfernian Weapon Makers. Book Publishing Due to the high intelligence of Catsfern, a general thirst for knowledge from all forms of life exists, because of this almost anyone who wants to can write down their life story and have it published as a book by a number of express online and physical publishers. Fiction, especially of an erotic nature is also quite popular in forms varying from novels to manga. Agriculture Agriculture in Catsfern is highly diversified, due to the wide variety of climates found within the empire and investment into large scale, also because almost every crop imaginable can be grown indoors within the premises of Catsfern. A good portion of Agriculture is devoted to growing drug crops such as cannabis and poppies. Drugs Catsfern produces and locally sells a large amount of drugs annually. Production and wholesale of drugs is handled by private companies but all final sales to consumers are handled by the government. Private companies produce drugs and sell them to the Catsfernian government wholesale, the drugs are then sent to government run distributaries and sold for a profit. All government distributors have the right to refuse service and recommend medical help is someone seems to come into the distributary a little too often. Niche industries Breast Milk In Catsfern, a few companies have cropped up, producing and selling breast milk from both humans or neko girls. The product is surprisingly popular, or unsurprisingly, considering Catsfern as a whole. The aforementioned breast milk must be pastured to the same standard as cow milk before being sold. The pay for these positions are actually quite high with minimum bay being set at 20 septims per hour. This has mad the product about times more expensive as cows milk per Gallon, but despite the price difference breast mink still sells fairly well making up 23.5% of the total Catsfernian dairy industry. BDSM Equipment Due to Catsfern's openness towards behavior frowned upon in other countries, BDSM has become quite popular in the nation. Due to the high demand for equipment for these activities, local companies have began producing quite high quality products known for being more durable and of generally higher quality than foreign imports. Sewer Mining One interesting industry that has evolved in Catsfern is sewer mining. What started as a few poor people rummaging through raven rocks sewers looking for discarded valuables has become a multi-billion Septim industry. Sewer mining companies are contracted with the government to clean out the nations sewers, and in exchange they get a small commission annually and the right to collect and sell any possibly valuable material found. Recycling Due to Catsfern's quest for economic self sufficiency, the recycling industry has become quite important. Every product must be made out of wood, meta, glass, or certain plastics so that they can be recycled for a good price in Catsfern. The Catsfernian government has a large hand in the industry both processing and selling recycled material, or using it to support government projects. Scientific Volunteering The scientific pursuits of Catsfernian scientists often require human volunteers to test on. The Catsfernian government has not outlawed possibly dangerous experimentation but does require anyone participating to be fully informed about the experiment and to receive substantial compensation. This has lead to a habit of some tougher yet less active individuals to receptively volunteer for scientific experiments rather than get a conventional job. Ivory The ivory trade is the only fully government controlled industry in Catsfern. Elephants and rhinoceros are bred and raised in fully government operated and military protected conservatories until they reach adulthood.Once they are fully matured they are sedated and transferred to an on-site facility where the horn, including the nub at the bottom, is surgically removed and replaced with an artificial horn or tusks. After a recovery period of two weeks for rhinoceros or three weeks for elephants the animals are released back into the conservatory where they seem to live normal lives with the prosthetics. After that, the ivory is then sold by the Catsfernian government either to specially contracted processors in Catsfern or directly to the governments of other countries. Wealth And Classes Wealth in Catsfern is actually very well distributed with the richest 10% of citizens earning less than twice the poorest 10%. This income equality was caused not with any socialist programs, but by economic policies that are very nice to small business but very mean to large corporations. Those same policies have also created some small class divides. with the lowest about 50% earning on average 160,000 Septims annually, local business chain owners earning about 200,000 septims annually. and the heads on the few larger companys Catsfern does have earning about 250,000 septims annually. These classes make poverty not much of a concern for the government, but there are some unfortunate souls that lack employment and live in poverty, for them shelter can be found in government run homeless shelters that are made with old abandoned factories that have been converted into small apartments. Black Market The black market has a notable presence in Catsfern, but not really for smuggling anything in. The Catsfernian black market primarily consists of people smuggling items out of the nation. the Catsfernian economy as is very free in regards to what is allowed to be produced and sold to the populace, allowing private citizens to purchase military grade weaponry, hard drugs, and other products that would be illegal in other nations. With such products being available a good bit of underground business has sprung up smuggling these items out of the nation and into the black markets of other countries. These operations are technically illegal, but not enforced against.